A Moment Ago
by Ryuu Shey
Summary: "Neither my wishes nor yours happened, but I'm with you until the end!"


**"A Moment Ago"**

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 **"Neither my wishes nor yours happened, but I'm with you until the end!"**

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~ooooo~

"I'll be there," Narumi disconnected his phone call.

His students were staring at him because of his rare voice that had an unknown feeling, and he did not say anything as he looked at those faces, which were looking at him. It was the first time Narumi saw his class in that way. It was quiet, more than he ever expected. There were some times that he wanted to tell them to be silent, but not today, and then he made his way out of the class while leaving them in a miserable silence.

Narumi felt his fast heartbeat when he walked in the hallway of the Alice Hospital, and he stopped in front of the room number seven. He wanted to go in there as he held the door handle, but he could not find his strength to open it. At that time, he heard a male voice with the zest that was coming inside the room. It was not the same voice that he used to know earlier, the rough and cold emotions were not there to speak.

"Don't talk nonsense," a thin male voice came out, and Narumi knew that person. It was his student Ruka Nogi.

"If it is nonsense, why do you like Imai?" Someone asked back. It brought a few seconds of silence into the conversation.

"You would better keep quiet, Hyuuga," this time it was a girl, and that was Hotaru Imai. Her voice was still too cold, but Narumi knew it was factitious.

Finally, Narumi entered the room. He saw his unofficial favorite student, Natsume was sitting on the bed with Ruka, and Hotaru was standing near the window along with her deep thoughts, as she did not bother to look at their teacher, who came to see them.

"Narumi, what brings you here?" Natsume smirked at him as he always did.

"You know Natsume, they want me to stay here," Narumi managed to say something at that awful moment without knowing how to go further.

"Ruka, won't you tell her that?" Natsume again turned to his friend and asked in his hoarse like voice, but it was filled with liveliness.

"Shut up Natsume!" said Ruka, looked away from his friend.

"Don't worry about that. I'll be silent soon," Natsume smirked again a two seconds before, Ruka walked out of the room while holding his tears.

"He must need some time," Hotaru came near to the bed and sat next to Narumi. They had waited in silence for a while.

"Now they have to make another idiot like me," Natsume took his chance to break the silence, still having a grin on his lips.

"You can stay quiet until you feel better," said Narumi, smiled at his favorite student who always used to attend his classes, even without any reason, and that time, Natsume's short and heavy breaths were slowly started to shake, while making a noise. His collarbone covered with slight perspiration by his hard effort to breathe out loud, and then Narumi tried to wipe off Natsume's face using his own handkerchief. For a second, he felt a strong touch of Natsume's trembling hand.

"Do you really think that you can do this, Narumi?" Natsume asked as his lips did not want to let the smirk go away from him.

"Of course, look I'm doing well," said Narumi, wiped his face and neck for a better chance to breathe, and as the both of them noticed, Natsume was not the only one who was shivering, but also Narumi had the same for some unknown reason.

"When are you going to change your annoying mind to follow me everywhere? Huh?" Natsume barely tried to sit, only if Narumi let him do that.

"It's hard to stop our old habits," Narumi got a kind of perverted smile, and too Natsume. "I don't think we can do those things again like the same way as we did, but I wish if I had one more chance to burn your examination pape..."

It stopped. Natsume tried to say more, but a dry cough blocked his talk.

"I know..." Narumi felt like that his head was burning by the thing he heard. He wanted to go away from that place. It was hard to see the everything in that room, even the breeze could feel him make restless.

"It's splendid to be with you in my entire life, and funny to see your fearful eyes, Narumi. Look at you. You are wondering about me. Isn't that me who is on your mind now? Are you really afraid of losing your burning pain?" Natsume was deeply involved with his manner of teasing, but the both Narumi and Hotaru did not feel so easy around him.

"If you think that you know me well, why are you wasting your energy to ask?" Narumi was careful to run away from the question as he asked something new.

"Because I'm tired of being careful about my life," Natsume turned his head to the other side, and then he closed his eyes as if he wanted some time to be alone.

"So, let's talk, how are you feeling now?" Narumi placed his hand on Natsume's hand that had pale skin.

"It's coming, now I can't turn back. I feel so sorry for me," he replied weakly, still staying in the same position, even his breath had some kind of strange feeling as Hotaru and Narumi looked at each others' face without knowing what to say with it.

"Our great Natsume can't be like this. Am I wrong, Imai?" Narumi wanted to open those closed eyes and turn Natsume's face to them. "Hyuuga, you're so weak," sometimes, Hotaru knew that method more than Narumi because Natsume turned his head back to look at them.

"I'm not, Imai. To tell you the truth, I don't want to go anywhere. Don't tell Ruka, but that is all I want to say, still I want to stay, even knowing that I can't," his attractive smirk or any of his feature was not to see since they had disappeared under the suffering.

"I'm not going to tell you something idiotic, but I think it's time to go. I feel so sick of saying these things, I'm not sure yet what I want to say to you. If you stayed anyhow, you have to go someday, and... All my life I wanted to run. That is not fair in our case. I want to go, but you have the chance," Narumi explained calmly, still holding his trembling hand. It was the first time Natsume saw him talking like that, and especially in front of him.

"Chance, maybe you're right for the first time in your life," Natsume's face brightened up again by those words.

"No, Natsume. I'm not right. I don't know anything to say than that," as Narumi said, he crossed their fingers together, and he avoided Natsume's eyes since he never wanted to believe the thing that was about to happen.

"You're not wrong Sensei. Hyuuga, we can't stay until the end. Hard to believe, but we're strange friends inside these Academy walls. Don't worry about him. I'll promise you to take care of him like the same way as you did," Hotaru smiled at him with a weird feeling. It was a rare thing to see, but she did.

Natsume nodded. That was the only thing he wanted to hear at that time because Ruka meant a lot to him. Not only as a friend, but also as his life. Natsume closed his eyes, and then tighten his fingers, which were still crossing by Narumi.

The white walls of the little room had seemed pale like his skin. Every once in a second, Natsume had tried hard to breathe as he wanted to count them alone, but that time his trance was broken by Ruka.

"Are you here yet," Ruka was about to ask unless those painful words froze on his shivering lips.

"Don't surprise to see me, Ruka..." Natsume smirked at him, knowing his pain and everything. He was aware that how much it hurts to hear such a thing, but repeatedly Natsume was used to hurt Ruka's almost crying heart.

"Why am I? You wanted to use that sh*tty Alice again and again, and look. It's you who is afraid of going back, not me," Ruka's creepy scream could make them feel bad about his feelings. The three of them knew that he was crying, and did they. The tears were gathered inside their eyes, and it made them helpless.

"Oi..." Natsume called his friend who was looking away from the window. "I'm sorry!" He said again by reason of Ruka's silence, and again Natsume went silence while closing his eyes.

Ruka came near to the bed as the three of them were listening to the music of Natsume's breath. The room seemed like trembling with a horror silence. No one knew how to express those burning feelings which were screaming inside their hearts. At that time, Natsume was taking a hard effort to move his body, but he had to get Narumi's help to raise his head, and leaned against the pillow.

"Apology accepted," said Ruka, sat near Natsume's head, and his hand walked on Natsume's waist with a safe feeling of friendship.

"Ruka, I'm sorry again for hurting you with something I never wanted. I did that everything to save you, and Imai, Narumi... Ah Sensei, goodbye then," Natsume's whisper came out with his undying smirk. Ruka felt it so heartwarming, despite the annoying reasons that Natsume always used to make.

The same moment, Natsume released his fingers from Narumi's hand. He curved them alone against his own and opened his mouth a little wide. All the time, Ruka did not move from his warmth as the other two also looking at him.

"I love you Natsume!" as Ruka whispered, Natsume smirked once again weakly to make them feel better, and they knew that. They smiled together one last time in their lives. The very last minute, a quiver ran through Natsume's whole body. His head dropped slowly on his shoulder, and his crimson eyes were slowly taking back the dull light that always lightened the others hearts.

"Fine," Narumi whispered calmly, looking at both the guys who had teary eyes. He slowly kissed Natsume's forehead, and he felt his tears were falling onto Natsume's pale skin of his face. He felt like his heart was bursting, and wished if he would die at that time, and then Ruka embraced Natsume for one last time, firmly crossing his hand, but Hotaru did not know what to do with that everything as she walked out of the room.

Ruka was still embracing his friend without any reaction. His burning tears were falling on his cheeks, but Natsume's eyes were not going to open again to see any of these things. Narumi silently wiped his eyes, and went to Hotaru who was sitting outside the room. He sat next to her, still keeping the silence. The girl slowly turned her head to look at him, and her dull eyes widened as if she was sick.

"I have known him since my first day of the Academy. We weren't able to build a better friendship, but since now, Hyuuga is my best friend," her dry and weak whisper stuck in her throat.

"When I looked at him, he remembered the person once I was. I like the way that he used to deal with me in all these years. He was the only one, I dared to believe in here, and... and this is not what I wanted since I too loved him. Yes, I loved that irritating fire caster, still I can't imagine that horrible tomorrow without him..." Narumi did not try to stop his tears from falling, and Hotaru held his hand while drowning inside her thoughts. The dry and sharp breaths shook their bodies, and the silent tears ran away from their eyes, one by one.

"Did it happen?" Hotaru and Narumi raised their heads by that rough voice of another teacher named Jinno, and there were another few more teachers included Natsume's well-known Persona – the dangerous ability moderator.

"It's not strange with his Alice. It might have happened a long time ago," Persona said carelessly without caring about the guy who had sacrificed his entire life on his terrible work.

"You don't deserve such an honorable death, not even as a dog," said Narumi, stood up calmly, still looking at the floor, and he entered the door with Hotaru. Persona or anyone did not expect to hear a thing like that from Narumi, but they knew it was all because of his pain.

The both Narumi and Hotaru suddenly stopped in the middle of the room. Hotaru's left hand hidden on her chest, and Narumi did nothing more than looking at the thing that was in front of his eyes. Hotaru trembled, and Narumi saw her tears running down her cheeks repeatedly as his hand walked around her shoulder to embraced her, and he did. From the corridor of the hospital floated with the confused and dismal sounds. Those all of them were entered the room that had motionless silence other than the clock ticks.

"Natsume," Everyone held their breaths by Persona's cold voice since Natsume was sitting on the bed with Ruka by the relief of the Longevity Alice, and it was Ruka who wanted to take such a step, to save his friend by all alone himself.

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"sometimes friendship is eternal than love!"

 **The End**

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This is my first short fiction. It's been a while since I wanted to write something like this, here I did, and I don't feel this as a story, you see there is no any story. All I wanted to write was - Natsume's death.

Tell me what you feel about this. You can show me the mistakes that I've made. You're most welcome for the negative feedbacks.

Thank you for reading.


End file.
